Ladakh leaders deliberating the current political situation in the region
Srinagar- With Kashmir-centric politics unable to come out of cold-storage due to impasse in electoral ice-break, the leaders of Ladakh are currently stealing the limelight with their identity politics campaign.
The leaders from the Buddhist-majority Leh as well as the Muslim-majority Kargil have come together to up the ante against the government for failing to acknowledge their demands.
“The government should listen to our demands and discuss them,” said Padma Stanzin of Ladakh Students’ Environmental Action Forum (LEAF). “If they ignore us, we’ll be forced to launch an agitation.”
The cold desert’s political campaign is growing days after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) constituted a High-Powered Committee (HPC)—headed by Minister of State, Nityanand Rai—to “ensure protection of land and employment” for the people of Ladakh.
The 17-member committee including Ladakh Lieutenant Governor R.K. Mathur will “discuss measures to protect the region’s unique culture and language taking into consideration its geographical location and its strategic importance”.
However, four days after the MHA order, the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) and Leh Apex Body (LAB) in a joint meeting on January 7 decided to stay away from the HPC.
These groups were formed following the resentment against the central government for “failing to safeguard Ladakh’s constitutional position, job and land” after the creation of separate union territory in August 2019.
“Since our demands haven’t been included in the list, we’ve decided not to engage with the HPC,” Tsering Dorjey Lakruk, LAB’s vice chairman, told Kashmir Observer.
“We’ve been demanding the implementation of the sixth schedule for Ladakh from day one, but the committee hasn’t included this in the agenda. So there’s no point in engaging with it. We’ll be holding a protest to press our demands now.”
Sajjad Kargali, a KDA member said that they aren’t against the committee but want inclusion of their four-point agenda in the meeting.
The four-point agenda, according to Kargali, includes full-fledged statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution, early recruitment process and Public Service Commission for Ladakh, and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.
“We also object to the selection of some of the irrelevant members in the HPC,” Kargali said. “These members are there when the Suni sect from the region has been totally ignored.”
Sensing the ire, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ladakh lawmaker Jamyang Tsering Namgyal is trying to woo the dissidents with the declaration that no government has formed such a committee before despite Ladakh facing many challenges and agitations in its political history.
“So this is the high and right time for all the members of the HPC to realise its importance, discuss and deliberate the common issues of Ladakh,” Namgyal said. “They should keep the national interest as well as the larger interest of Ladakh in mind.”
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